Return to You (Letters to Nowhere #3)(6)

The girls in my first rotation are having a blast with the pit bar and I decide to let them try flyaways, which gets them to the loud squealing version of excited because who doesn’t want to try a flip off the pit bar?

I’ve moved closer to the tumble strip in order to spot the dismounts and I catch bits and pieces of TJ’s coaching.

“If you’re gonna cry, get in the back of the line,” he snaps at a girl who’s probably eleven or twelve. She covers her face and makes her way behind the other girls in her group. “No more balking. Go for the double or get out!”

Jesus Christ.

I send my girls to get a drink and climb out of the pit to stand beside TJ. “You can’t kick anyone out of the gym,” I whisper. “The counselors are in training sessions right now. There’s no one to watch the kids outside of the gym.”

He frowns like this is really putting a damper on his coaching style.

“It’s summer camp,” I remind him. “You don’t have to take them to a competition.”

“They’re paying eight hundred bucks to work on skills they already know how to do?”

I shrug. “It’s not your eight hundred bucks, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”

TJ folds his arms across his chest and turns to his group. “Fine, if you’re planning on chickening out of throwing a double back, go get a drink. If not, stay in line.” He turns back to me. “Better?”

I shake my head and rub my temples. Is it lunchtime yet?

“Coach Jordan! It’s my turn, it’s my turn!” a girl in my group is shouting from up on the bar. Since it looks like she might combust if she doesn’t get to try the flip off the high bar before it’s time to rotate, I leave TJ alone with his one remaining gymnast. Everyone else opted for the drink break.

By the time I’m finishing up my fourth group of campers this morning, I’m exhausted and dying to go find Karen or Stevie and make sure she’s okay. TJ follows me out of the gym. “Why do girls cry so much?” he says. “I don’t get it.”

“Haven’t you coached girls before?”

“No,” he admits. “So, what am I supposed to do with them?”

“Don’t make them cry.” I pick up my pace after spotting Karen and Stevie heading toward us. Karen’s holding a bag of ice against her forehead. I leave TJ lagging behind and reach for Karen, lifting the ice and taking in the sizable bump that’s formed in the past couple of hours. “Are you okay? What did the trainer say?”

Her face reddens instantly. “I’m fine. No concussion. No anything.”

“Good.” I lean down and give her a quick kiss on the mouth. As I’m pulling away, I catch sight of the woman with the wild gray hair now standing behind Karen. Nina Jones.

She scowls at me and turns her attention to TJ. “If you’re going to loiter in our gym every morning you might as well make yourself useful and learn how to spot properly.” Her gaze shifts to Karen and Stevie. “Practice starts in two minutes.”

TJ’s scratching his head as Nina walks off. I have no idea if she was insulting his spotting or she actually wants to use him to help coach the elite girls. He looks Karen over and his mouth opens like he’s about to say something, but she grabs my arm and pulls me away, toward the gym.

“I think crawling in a hole in the middle of the woods and staying there for the next three weeks sounds like a great idea,” she says, before throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me. I tighten my arms around her waist. She brushes her lips against my neck, giving me instant goose bumps, then her mouth moves to my cheek. “I knew it.”

I pull back and examine her face. “Knew what?”

“You’re sick again, aren’t you?” She gives my other cheek a kiss. “You have a fever.”

I release her and step back. The last thing I need is Karen worrying about me. “It’s hot out here.”

She narrows her eyes, but Stevie’s beside her now, grabbing her arm and tugging her toward the gym. “Practice, remember? Nina’s waiting.”

Karen pats my cheek. “Get some rest, okay? Maybe go see the doctor?”

“Good idea, I’ve got a few hours to lie down.” That answer must have been enough to satisfy her because she takes off at a jog, trailing behind Stevie. I get inside my cabin, heading for my bunk, when Dad calls.

“Jordy, what’s going on?”

“Um… besides the usual?” I can’t tell if he’s got a purpose to this call or is just checking in on me.

“Karen,” he says. “I just watched a video of her peeling off the bar and I have no idea what happened and who the hell is that kid that snatched her out of thin air?”

“She’s not hurt. The trainer checked her out already. And that was TJ who caught her. He was in the gym working out.” TJ snaps around to face me, tuning into my phone conversation. “Who posted a video of that?”

“I don’t know, that’s what I was calling to ask,” Dad says. “Where’s Karen? Can you put her on the phone?”

I suppress a frustrated sigh. “Sure, because I’m here to follow her around twenty-four-seven. It’s not like I have other responsibilities.”

“Jordan,” he warns.